Judge rules that dead man's vote can stand in New York election decided by a lone ballot

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The election was decided by one vote, and both sides agree that a dead man voted. But a judge in New York says the man's absentee ballot can stand because it wasn't challenged before it was counted.

Marc Baum had challenged the vote for village of Manlius trustee.

Arnold Ferguson, the father of another candidate running for the board, had submitted an absentee ballot but died three weeks before the March 15 election in central New York.

Election officials admit the vote shouldn't have counted, but a state supreme court judge on Thursday ruled that any challenge had to happen before the ballot was removed from its envelope and counted.

Baum, who lost the race by a single vote to Harold Hopkinson, says he's through with politics for now.